


Cat's Concert

by Summer_Dusk



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, I had some headcanons, Music, Mòrag dances in this one lmao, Nia has some musical talents, dance, nothing too explicit shipping wise but the intent is CLEARLY there lol, there is a character-related spoiler so don't read if you haven't cleared Elpys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 06:05:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14826759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summer_Dusk/pseuds/Summer_Dusk
Summary: While browsing at Soniarus Music in Torigoth Nia's gaze falls upon a familiar intrument and reminds her of days long past.





	Cat's Concert

**Author's Note:**

> Nia walks around as blade for the duration of this story - since the game's story doesn't really give much room for backtracking after that reveal (I mean, you CAN but it doesn't make much sense storywise bc gotta save Pyra and then Morytha happens¯\\_(ツ)_/¯). Just don't think too much about where this may fit in with the main story XD Imagine a slight AU, quick travel is canon or sth post-game, doesn't matter.
> 
> A disclaimer: I do not claim to be much knowledgeable on music, much less Irish folk music and dance. I did some googling and youtubing and what I saw aligned with the image I had in mind for this.  
> A fiddle and a violin are the same btw, it only depends on what music is played with it.
> 
> The dance described later on is this one: https://www youtube com/watch?v=NrIfK7BAeLs (replace the spaces with a dot). I hope I did a good enough job describing it, that was a first for me.

Nia’s ears caught the tune long before they turned into Obra Street. Her first guess was that someone at Soniarus Music was trying out one of the many instruments so that they could get an idea of the quality before they bought it. She stood still for a moment, to watch the few customers looking around in the shop.  
When her hand slipped out of her father’s grasp he stopped and looked back at her with mild confusion.

None of the people in the shop were playing any instruments from what Nia could see at first glance.  
“Come on, sunshine.”, her father called her and took her by the hand and walked her off.

Nia didn’t resist, instead she let herself being drawn away from the shop as she watched on.  
She found the origin of the little tune a few steps down the street when another note reached her ears. Someone was attuning their instrument – a bowed instrument, she guessed from what little she had heard.

And then the musician started playing for good. Nia’s ears perked up and she started to look around excitedly.

Nia’s golden eyes widened when she saw her: It was a Gormotti woman playing, with long red hair reaching over her shoulders and little braids weaved into it. Funnily enough, Nia did not recognize the instrument that was placed on her shoulder. It was no Torigonda, nor a Koto – and those were the most common stringed instruments sold in Torigoth. The woman was playing with a bow which ran back and forth over the strings and made the tunes Nia had heard before.

Again, Nia stood still so that she could listen to the music.

The woman smiled brightly while she played and moved her body, as if she wanted to dance to her own music. She paid no heed to the people around her, her green gaze was lowered and she focused only on the instrument in her hands.

Only when her father pulled at Nia’s hand again, she was yanked from her mesmerisation. She shook her head a bit, as if to get rid of the charm the woman had put on her.  
“Dad, wait.”, she asked of him.

“Hm?”, he turned to her, eyebrow raised.

“I want to listen to the music for a bit.”, she explained with a bashful smile.

He watched her face, while one of his brown Gormotti ears flicked to the music. Eventually, he gave her a smile and nodded.

With a little cheer, Nia let go of his hand and ran closer towards where the woman stood. A few people had gathered around her and stood still while they listened to her play.

The woman’s green eyes scanned absentmindedly through the crowd and when they landed on Nia, they widened and the smile on her face grew a little bigger. Suddenly, she changed the tune into something faster and more playful.

Nia immediately started to tap her foot in tune with the new melody. It was cheerful and had so much character – she felt like she recognized the tune from somewhere, but she couldn’t put a finger on it. The people around her stood still, which the young blade just couldn’t understand. How could someone listen to this and _not_ want to dance along?

As the song progressed, Nia couldn’t resist and stepped out of the crowd. The gazes of the people turned to her and she was a little nervous, but she noticed how some of the people also started tapping their feet along or moved to the music while standing in their place. There was one young boy who seemed especially eager, but also especially shy, seeing how he hid half of his body behind his mother’s legs.

Maybe someone just needed to make a start.

Invigorated by the music Nia began to dance along to the melody. She knew a lot of the traditional Gormotti dances, curtesy of her studies on how to be a proper lady. She tapped light-footedly on the ground and gave everyone who met her gaze a big grin. She saw her dad, who started clapping along to the music and other people joined him, which in turn encouraged her even more.

The musician picked up the pace and Nia danced even faster.

She saw the little boy slowly walking out of his mother’s shadow and Nia stepped up to him and took him by the hands. When he didn’t resist she slowly pulled him out of the crowd.  
“Come on, let’s have some fun!”

He was two heads smaller than her, maybe about ten years old. “I-I can’t dance.”, he mumbled shyly.

“Don’t worry, just do as I do.” She smiled brightly at him and when the boy saw her carefree attitude his blue eyes lit up and he nodded.

She showed him the first few steps of the Sean-nòs dance she had been performing and he tried to pick them up as good as possible.  
More Gormotti started to join them, a big bulky man showed the boy a few easier steps that still fit to the music and a teenage girl took Nia by the arm and together they danced as a pair.

When the music came to an end, dancers and spectators alike started to clap and applaud the musician as well as those who had danced.

Someone rested a hand on Nia’s shoulder. “Did you like it?”, the red-haired musician asked her.

Nia nodded excitedly. “Yes, of course! You play so well, your music is like magic that makes everyone want to dance!”

“Hehe, to think that a pretty and rare blade like you would like me and my simple fiddling… It’s the best praise I ever received.” The woman smiled abashed and only then Nia noticed that she wasn’t that old, maybe twenty years or so.

“What instrument is that?”, Nia asked curiously.

“Oh, this?” The woman reached the bow and instrument towards Nia, so that she could take a better look at it. “It’s called a fiddle.”

“A fiddle, huh…” Nia carefully took the instrument into her hands and took a good look at it. The wood felt smooth to the touch and seemed to have been made with lots of love: she especially liked the carved flower pattern that stretched over its body.

“You play it with the bow, like this…” The woman ran the bow over the strings and sure enough, a high note sounded.

Nia could hardly contain her excitement. “I wanna learn how to play it!”

The woman laughed heartily. “Sure, I’m every day here around this time. I can show you a few tricks as thanks for encouraging the crowd to dance. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had playing on the streets.”

 

~

 

“Nia?”, Mòrag’s voice snapped the blade out of her reverie.

Nia blinked once and only then she found herself in the present again. She could hear the people pass Soniarus Music behind her back; the familiar rustling and murmuring of Gormotti people buying their groceries in the market seemed to reach her from somewhere far away. “It’s nothing. I was just remembering something…”, she said and looked at her companion.

Mòrag returned her gaze with a thoughtful look in her eyes. “I hope it was a pleasant memory.”, she replied, because she knew that Nia had started to think back about her past more often ever since she had revealed herself as a blade.

Nia smiled at the violin in her hand and then put it back on its stand. “Yeah, I remembered how I started playing those.”, she explained, the little smile still on her face. Mòrag couldn’t tell whether it was supposed to be a happy or sad one. Considering how Nia’s family life ended, memories from that time would probably always be both.

“I didn’t know you could play the violin.”

“I’m full of surprises, eh? Started out right around the corner, there used to be a woman here who played at Obra Street – and damn, her music was like magic.” Nia’s smile grew a little wider during her explanation. “One just couldn’t help but dance along to it. I was so mesmerized when I heard her for the first time that I begged my dad to get me a fiddle so I could learn it for myself. He wanted me to learn to play music anyway since that’s proper etiquette, so he got me a teacher.”

Mòrag nodded. “So that’s how your skill came to be.”

“Yeah, whenever we visited Torigoth I would visit her and show her my progress and she in turn gave me new advice.” Looking back at the violin, Nia decided to take it and its bow in her hands once again and played a few notes. They were the beginning of a melody Mòrag wasn’t familiar with, but she could already tell that Nia used to have a lot of experience in playing it.

“Those were some really nice times.”, Nia said and decided to put the instrument back for good. She wondered where the woman was today. Did she still live in Torigoth? Maybe she even had a family now or traveled the world to play her music?

Mòrag watched the fiddle and thought about what Nia had told her. Her thoughts where interrupted when Nia had a question on her own: “Do you know how to play an instrument, Mòrag?”

“Yes.”, she only said.

Nia waited patiently, but when Mòrag didn’t elaborate she frowned. “Which one?”, she enquired with a pout. “You can’t just say something like that and _not_ follow up with an explanation!”

Mòrag’s lips curved into an amused smile. She had expected Nia to react like that and, because it was amusing, but also because she wanted to distract Nia from her bittersweet memories, she continued to keep silent.

“Oh, come on!” The blade stomped her food impatiently to the ground. “Do you want me to guess?” From the corner of her eye, she saw the shopkeeper Tros look curiously at them. Nia forced herself to calm down, because she didn’t want to make a scene. “Okay, let’s see… Since you are a member of the imperial family I bet it was something characteristic for Mor Ardain, like the Torigonda is for Gormott.”, she thought aloud.

Mòrag was surprised that Nia already had the right hunch. “That would be… a fair assumption.”, she confirmed slowly.

“Really?” Nia’s ears drooped, apparently disappointed that she was so close to the answer already. She wasn’t familiar with what instruments had their origin in Mor Ardain so she tried to recall the ones she had seen in Alba Cavanich’s music store. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “Please tell me it is the trumpet.”

Mòrag raised an eyebrow at Nia’s sudden enthusiasm. “I am afraid not.”

“Whaaat? Aw, I had really pegged you as someone who played a wind instrument.”

Mòrag was still confused. “Why?”

Nia shrugged. “I dunno, it just seemed to fit you.”

“Really.” The Ardainian woman wasn’t much convinced of this answer. “Just like that? Did something maybe prompt you to think that?”

“No, I tell you! The image of you playing the trumpet or a tuba or something similar just seems right to me.“, Nia tried to explain.

Mòrag blinked and averted her gaze as she fixed her hat up. “May I ask how often you think about me, for such thoughts to make sense to you?”

Nia could have sworn that Mòrag’s cheeks usually didn’t have that hue of pink on them. She herself registered the implication of this question a moment later, which clearly showed on her face.  
“N-not a lot! Not at _all_!”, she said while her cheeks turned red. “Don’t you have that too? That you sometimes see something and immediately think of a person because it fits them so well?” She was talking far too loud, Tros turned his head towards them again.

Mòrag still didn’t look at her. “I usually don’t allow my mind to stray like that.”

Nia bit her lip. Mòrag sure liked making things hard. “It’s like with Brighid and cosmetics. If you saw something she hadn’t used before you’d be able to tell whether she would like it or not, right?”

That seemed to get a reaction out of her. “If you put it like that…”

Relief showed on Nia’s face. “See? And it’s kinda the same for me with you and the other guys.”

“So, you also have an image in mind of what instruments the others would play, if given the time to learn?” Now Mòrag was genuinely curious to find out what Nia deemed fitting for their other group members.

“Oh, come on, you can’t tell me that Tora _wouldn’t_ play the Roly-Poly Maracas if he had the opportunity.”, Nia stated with a grin. She was feeling less awkward now.

The mental image of Tora hopping around a campfire while shaking the maracas with his wings made Mòrag chuckle. “Ah yes, I see what you mean now.”

“And Shellhead would totally play something loud and flashy, but I like imagining him being stuck with a Nopolele.”

Mòrag agreed with a nod and tried to suppress a chuckle behind one of her gloved hands, but wasn’t much successful. Imagining big buff Zeke with such a small guitar in his hands was too funny.

Nia saw that and felt proud at accomplishing the rare feat of making Mòrag laugh. The military woman was way too serious most of the time, which was no surprise given her high rank, but Nia found that everyone needed to take a step back and relax every once in a while. Especially serious people. Especially Mòrag.

“Lady Mòrag?” Brighid’s voice asked behind them.

The duo turned around and there, at the entrance, stood the rest of the party, seemingly finished with their tasks of buying provisions and selling redundant equipment.

“Are you guys finished?”, Rex asked.

Nia nodded. “Yeah, we can head to the inn now.” She gave Mòrag another look and the woman nodded in agreement.

The party went ahead and before Nia walked out of the shop, Mòrag leaned into her ear and whispered: “Apropos, I used to play the Steamwork Organ.”

Her pleasantly warm breath made Nia shudder. “Oi, that’s really boring.”, she commented and tried to ignore how the fur on her ears stood on its ends.

“It’s the pride of Mor Ardain.”, Mòrag replied and withdrew with a smile.

“Of course it is.”, Nia said unimpressed and waved the revelation away.

Brighid and Dromarch were waiting patiently for them. When she saw them, Nia elbowed Mòrag lightly to the side and stood on her toes to say something directly into Mòrag’s ear: “Also, Brighid and a flute – don’t you agree?”

“Hm…”Mòrag examined her blade as she let the image sink in for a second. She imagined Brighid playing a transverse flute, the sort commonly used in concerts, and how she would look like if she played for such an occasion. Mòrag could actually see where Nia was coming from. The instrument matched her blade’s dignity. “Yes, indeed.”

Seeing their drivers on such familiar terms surprised both blades.

“Did we miss something?”, Brighid asked the white tiger next to her. It was highly unusual for her driver to be whispering in secret with someone – and even more unusual to smile with such genuine amusement while at it. Not that Brighid wasn’t happy that her driver seemed to relax and loosen her serious persona every once in a while – it just never really happened, which caught her off-guard.

“Seems like our drivers had a fun time in the music store.”, Dromarch only commented.

“They sure had!”, Nia said and gave him a pat on the back; she had been close enough to hear her blade’s comment. “Come on, lets catch up with the others –“ Just as she was about to turn left, so that they could make their way to Coedwig Inn via the Windmill Plaza, her right ear picked a familiar tune up from the opposite direction.

Nia halted and looked to the right. Could it be…? Yes, that was definitely a fiddle playing. Without thinking, she turned around on the spot and went right.

“Milady?” Dromarch called her with a frown. “The others are waiting…”

“Oh, don’t worry, we will just take the other way round to the inn.”, she dismissed his words.

“Obra Street does pass by its backdoor…”, Mòrag thought aloud. Curious to see where Nia was headed to she decided to follow her.

Nia almost didn’t believe her eyes when she saw a red-haired Gormotti woman playing the fiddle. “No way…”  
It couldn’t be, the woman didn’t seem older than in her memory – and Nia had met her _before_ her sister had been born. But her play was just the same, mirroring the playful character of the musician she had known.  
When Nia’s gaze fell upon the fiddle’s flower carving, she knew that she couldn’t be mistaken. She walked up to the small crowd that had gathered to listen to her.

Nia just stood there and watched the Gormotti play. She had her eyes closed while she played and moved to her own music. Unlike last time Nia saw her the redhead had her hair tied in a ponytail, but the little braids still remained.

“She is very skilled.” Mòrag said next to her.

Nia nodded. She sure was, but… something was different from before. When the melody ended and the woman opened her eyes, Nia saw that they were blue and not green. And not only that, she was even younger than the musician Nia had known.

The crowd clapped and the teenager made a humble bow. “Thank you so much!”, she said and rose her eyes from the ground.

Her gaze met Nia’s and suddenly the girl’s eyes went wide. “You!”, she called out.

It caught Nia by surprise. “Me?”

The girl nodded and went up to her, Nia stepped forward and met her halfway.

“Is your name Nia by any chance?”

“Yeah.” Nia examined the girl carefully. “And you are not Càit.”, she noted.

The girl shook her head with a sad smile. “I’m Alis. Càit was my mum.”

“I see.” That certainly explained the striking similarity and how she came to possess the very same fiddle… “Wait, was?”, Nia then asked.

Alis nodded. “She died two years ago, she was very sick.”

“I’m sorry.” Nia didn’t know what to say. Though she really did feel sorry. Càit had taught her a lot and Nia had always enjoyed her lectures in playing the fiddle.

“It’s alright.” Alis put up a little smile. “I never thought I’d meet the cat-like blade with golden eyes mum used to tell me about.”

Something stirred inside Nia’s heart when Alis said that. “Did she talk that much about me?”

The girl chuckled. “Yeah, what an eager pupil you were, for example or how your eyes always shone when you heard her play. Her favourite story was how you two met.”

Nia smiled abashed. “Oh, that’s…” She didn’t know how to respond.

“You were so different than all the other blades. You never cared about fighting, no, to her you just seemed like your everyday Gormotti girl.”, Alis continued to tell.

“That’s the only thing I was at the time.” Nia’s reply was a murmur, and she seemed to talk more to herself than to Alis now.

Mòrag, Dromarch and Brighid, who were standing nearby behind their friend, exchanged glances.

Alis noticed Nia’s change of mood and decided to change the topic. She reached her fiddle over to the blade and smiled brightly. “Care to play a tune? You were pretty good back in the day.”

Nia looked at the instrument and the pattern she had always envied because it had been so pretty and had made her own fiddle seem so blank in comparison. Then she gazed at Alis who looked so much like her late mother that it hurt. What a nice change of pace it would have been, to meet someone from her past who had always been well-disposed towards her. Someone who would have never cared about the red blur in her core crystal that indicated that she was different from other blades now.

Of course she had her friends now, but at the time it had happened having someone like her would have meant everything. But then again, the Praetorium might have killed her if Nia had tried to reach out.

Nia sighed wistfully, but then she put up a smile and took the violin in her hands.

“Milday?”, Dromarch whispered out in surprise.

She looked back at him and her smile seemed sadder somehow. “Right, you weren’t around at the time yet.” He didn’t know about her aptitude for music – and how should he, anyway? It’s not like Nia had had the time nor the inclination to play ever since she had resonated with him. No, they had always been on the run as far as he was concerned.

“Good luck.”, Mòrag said.

This made Nia snort. “Don’t worry, I won’t need it.”, she replied and stepped in front of the crowd. She raised the violin to her head and rested her chin on the designated spot. It was such a nice and familiar feeling.

The crowd looked at her expectantly; there were adults and children alike and in the middle were her friends: two rare blades that stuck out like a sore thumb amidst all the Gormotti and the Special Inquisitor herself. Dromarch seemed curious, Brighid and Mòrag were too, but they were used to keeping their expression neutral.

Nia couldn’t help but smile when she saw them.

Then she slid the bow over the strings and started to play.

“Oh, the Swallowtail Jig!” Of course Alis would have immediately recognized the tune.

Nia grinned. That was the very tune that had mesmerized her so many years ago. Playing it now herself, with a crowd on her own and Càit’s daughter to watch her felt unreal. It was sad that the very woman who had taught her so many things about music wasn’t there anymore. Nia would have loved to play for her, to tell her in their own way that she was alright after disappearing so suddenly.

Nia blinked to chase away the tears that were building up in her eyes. It was sad, but unfortunately that was just how life was.

However, she was in a good place now and that was all that mattered. She continued on, her fingers pressing and holding the strings as she ran the bow on them, happy that her version of the tune was able to capture the crowd’s attention just like Càit had done back in the day.

She saw the surprise in Dromarch’s face, the content on Brighid’s features while she listened and Mòrag, whose brown eyes shone. Oh, how mesmerized and amazed she looked, Nia couldn’t help but grin. She could bet that she had looked the same when she had listened the first time to Càit’s music.

When she finished the crowd clapped and cheered, Brighid was clapping too and Dromarch howled with joy.

Nia turned to Alis and gave her the fiddle back. “Now I know how your mum felt the day we met.”

Alis smiled. “You are really good, Nia. I’m glad I could meet you.”

“Me too. It’s a shame Càit isn’t with us anymore, I’d have loved to dance to her music again.”

Alis nodded and placed the fiddle on her shoulder again. “Well, I’m not my mum, but if you want to dance to her music, then I’m sure I could do her justice.”

“Encore!”, a kid from the crowd shouted.

Alis and Nia laughed.

“One encore, coming right up!”, Alis replied cheerfully and got in position. She started playing another cheerful and fast Gormotti tune and immediately Nia felt the urge to dance again. Yes, Alis was truly her mother’s daughter.

A man in the crowd started clapping to the tune and others joined in. It reminded Nia very much of the first time she had danced in Obra Street and so she began in Sean-nòs style. Dromarch’s incredulous stare made her want to show off even more.

Just as she was about to call out to the crowd, a young man decided to join in, hand in hand with a woman his age. They lined up and joined Nia in her dance and soon after two young sisters followed up. The young man’s face looked familiar and while he was dancing very well, Nia saw that he still felt a bit embarrassed. “Didn’t need any prompting this time around, eh?”, she said to him. He laughed abashed which was when she knew that her hunch had been right. It seemed like there were a few familiar faces around today.

The song ended, but Alis immediately wove the next one into the tune so that the music did not stop. More people started to dance now, young and old alike, in couples and in groups. It was refreshing to see her compatriots like that.

Nia left her dance group and with a few light-footed steps she approached her friends. “Come on you lot!”

“As much as I’d love to, I’m afraid I can’t join, Milady.”, Dromarch said, the remorse clearly showing on his face.

“You can still wiggle around with your butt and tail.”, Nia suggested and winked at him.

“I – I see…” The prospect didn’t seem to appeal much to the white tiger. Brighid chuckled behind one of her hands.

Nia turned to Mòrag. “Join us, it’s really fun.”, she asked of her and grabbed her by the hands.

“I – I am not exactly familiar with Gormotti folkdance.”, Mòrag replied hesitantly and a bit abashed about how Nia held her hands so nonchalantly.

“This isn’t a competition, Mòrag.”, Nia scolded her. “Let’s just have fun!” Mòrag was sure that she had never seen Nia smile so brightly before.

Mòrag averted her gaze to avoid Nia’s shining eyes. “What would the public think if it saw Mor Ardain’s representative dancing without a care in the world in some backstreet?”

“Nothing, because no one cares about who you are right now. Just look at them.” And Mòrag did and she saw the Gormotti dance and be completely absorbed in it and she saw the crowd clapping and smiling and cheering their friends and family on. “That’s the best part about this… no one cares about what you are…”, she heard Nia whisper wistfully.

Mòrag could feel her resistance slowly melting away. “I’m sure you will find plenty of people to dance with…”, she said half-heartedly. She had already found it hard to resist the music, but Nia’s demeanour tore at her already weakened defences even further.

Nia’s squeeze around Mòrag’s hands grew tighter which made Mòrag look into the blade’s face once again. “I only want to dance with you.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Nia pressed her lips together and blushed. She hadn’t intended for the words to come out like that. Now, it’s not like she didn’t mean them though…

Mòrag rose her eyebrows, unsure on how to react to this. “Well, that, um…”

Brighid only shook her head and gave her driver a slight push in Nia’s direction. “I’m sure some fun won’t destroy yours or Mor Ardain’s reputation.”

Nia took the cue and with a grin she drew Mòrag, who gave her blade an appalled glance, out of the crowd and amidst the dancing people. When Alis noticed the blade re-joining the dance she transitioned her current tune to her own rendition of the Swallowtail Jig.

“Let’s do it like them.”, Nia told her and pointed to a couple dancing next to them.

Since the tune had just changed they had begun a new dance from the beginning: they stood about four to five arm lengths apart, facing each other. Then they both stepped forward with their right heel, then put their feet back and did the same with their left heel. When they put their left foot back, they clapped twice and repeated the first steps, then they clapped twice again and moved a step forward. On the second and third steps they lifted their knees up in a small hopping motion. When the two almost stood next to each other, they each raised an arm to their head and touched the palms of their hands. They moved in a circular motion until they had exchanged their starting directions. Palms still touching, they made a diagonal step forward, standing next to each other, then a step back and another diagonal step in the other direction. They retreated and then each repeated the starting steps backwards until they had the same distance from each other as in the beginning. Their hands were on their hips whenever they didn’t need to use them.

“Think you can do it?”, Nia asked her when they began a second run.

“Not perfectly, but I should be able to keep up.”, Mòrag answered with some confidence. She had years of experience in watching people’s movements and memorizing them – executing them herself, however, had never been needed.

“If you get confused, just do as I do.” Nia smiled at her and made a few steps back to get in position.

She looked very happy and when she started by stepping forward with her heel Mòrag did exactly the same. As she danced, the Ardainian woman had to admit to herself that it was fun. It had been hard to stand still while Nia had played on the fiddle and she felt the same now, with Alis’s music. She was glad that she had been given the opportunity to act on her urge to dance along.

So this was the music Nia had fallen in love with many years ago, so much so, that she had mastered it herself… Mòrag had learned something new about her teammate today and she was glad that this revelation had not been as dark and heart-breaking as the things she had told them in Elpys. The corners of her mouth curved into a little smile.

They touched the palms of their hands and locked eyes for a moment.

Nia smirked, sassy and playful, and her golden eyes gleamed with happiness. They exchanged positions and in the moment before they had to step back again Nia winked at her.

Mòrag blushed and just when they finished, the music stopped too.

Again, the crowd cheered, but Mòrag barely heard it as she was too captivated by Nia’s demeanour.

“Had fun?”, the blade asked.

“Yes…”

The answer seemed to please Nia. She rested her hands on her hips, obviously looking satisfied with herself.

“Nia…”, Mòrag begun hesitantly. “I…”

Nia cocked her head a bit when she saw Mòrag struggling to say something. Just as the Ardainian was about to continue on, Nia heard someone call her name and turned around.

“Nia?” It was Rex, standing at the other end of the road where the inn’s back entrance was headed, an incredulous look on his face.

“… love –“, when Mòrag noticed not only Rex, but the rest of their party standing behind him she paused.

Nia thought she misheard. Did Mòrag just start out with the words “I love”? Or was there something she had missed when Rex had called out to her? There was no way… right? She blushed and looked back to Mòrag again, who suddenly seemed very interested in fixing up her uniform.

“Am I dreaming or did someone else see Mòrag dance too?”, Zeke spoke the one question that everyone had on their mind.

Nia decided to ignore the subsequent discussion, because by now it was old hat that Zeke was dumbfounded at anything Mòrag did that had nothing to do with her position as Special Inquisitor, and went up to Alis. “Thanks a bunch for today.”

The red-haired Gormotti smiled. “It was fun.”, she agreed. “You should visit Ma when you have the time; I’m sure she’d be really happy.”

Nia nodded. “Will do.”, she promised.

Alis lowered her eyes towards the fiddle in her hands. She was in deep thought, raising the instrument a bit higher. She looked back to Nia and then back at her instrument with a sad gaze. “If you ever want a fiddle with a personalized design you should visit my dad, he is the one who did the carvings on mum’s.” She had considered it, but in the end she couldn’t part with her late mother’s fiddle. ”We live at the Galad Residential Zone.”

“I should really consider buying myself a new one.”, Nia thought aloud and her eyes wandered to her friends. She was sure they'd appreciate it if she did. She saw Zeke interrogating Mòrag, while Tora jumped excitedly up and down next to him. Mòrag seemed unfazed, maybe she denied the dancing just to mess with them. “I hope we meet again, Alis.”

They shook hands. “I’m sure we will.”, Alis said confidently.

The crowd had long dispersed by now. Alis waved her goodbye and went her own way. Nia turned her attention towards her friends again.

Brighid had somehow managed to threaten the crew into silence. Zeke looked sulky, Rex was still stumped, Tora had stopped hopping but was still smiling and moving his wings, Poppi was listening to Dromarch’s explanation on music and Pandoria helped him whenever she could, while Mythra seemed pretty helpless on the topic altogether.

When Nia approached them, she got compliments on her dancing and together they made their way back to the inn.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, Mòrag?” Nia curiously poked her head through the half open door. It was late evening now and the group members had retreated into their respective rooms.

Mòrag was on her bed, reading a book. She had taken her uniform off and seemed ready to go to sleep soon. When she heard her name she looked up. “Come in if you want.”, she asked her in and put her copy of “Les Awfuls” on the bed stand.

Nia did as she was told and closed the door behind her back. “Where’s Brighid?”, she asked curiously when she noticed the flame blade wasn’t there.

“Out for a walk. She always gets some fresh air before going to sleep.”, Mòrag answered and sat up on the side of the bed.

Nia sat down on the bed opposite from her. “Hey, so about today…”, she began hesitantly.

Mòrag only smiled. “I enjoyed myself very much.”

“Heh, yeah, I know that.” Nia mustered up a little grin. Mòrag smiling so easily was further proof of that. “When the dance was over, right before the others saw us…”, she continued and her grin slowly faded; instead her cheeks started to flush. “You said something which I didn’t quite hear fully.”

There was some confusion on Mòrag’s face. “What do you mean?”

Nia was taken aback. “I was hoping _you_ could tell me.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you are referring to.” Mòrag seemed to genuinely not know what the Gormotti meant.

“ _What_?” Nia frowned. “You can’t be serious!”, she said and punched her flat hands onto the mattress.

“Well, maybe you could just tell me the part you did understand.”, Mòrag suggested. “Since that was seemingly enough to seek me out at this hour.” Nia’s tendency to get aggressive was nothing unusual, but what caught Mòrag’s attention was the fact that she seemed to be more upset than anything. That, and the fact that Nia suddenly paused at the suggestion and stared at her in shock, were suspicious to Mòrag too.

Nia’s eyes widened at the suggestion, her cheeks growing redder by the second. She lowered her gaze and started to swing her feet back and forth. “Um, well…” She paused, absent-mindedly watching the ground.

Mòrag waited patiently for her to speak.

“You started off by saying something that sounded like… 'I love'…”, Nia finally confessed. “And you stopped talking when the others appeared.” She didn’t dare to look up when she finished.

For a moment, Mòrag just stared at her blankly. She tried recalling the events of the day, particularly of how she felt after the dance – Nia had quite captivated her with her flirtatious demeanour – when the music had stopped, she had felt as if she had just awoken from a very pleasant dream. There had been the distinct desire of wanting to repeat something like that again.

“Oh.” Mòrag just remembered what she had wanted ask of Nia – and how she had started out wording her request. Now she understood Nia’s fidgeting and her apparent bashfulness. Had she thought that…?

Suddenly Mòrag burst into broad laughter.

Nia stared at her dumbfounded. She had _never_ seen Mòrag laugh like this and to be honest, she hadn’t quite believed that the Special Inquisitor had been capable of laughing out loud in amusement until now, where she saw it with her own eyes. She felt very embarrassed. “What’s so funny?!”, she yelled. Mòrag did not sound malicious at all, yet Nia couldn’t help but feel humiliated.

“I- “, Mòrag tried to calm down. “I am sorry, haha – it’s just…” She tried to suppress her laughter by placing her hand on her mouth.

Nia crossed her arms and impatiently tapped the fingers of her right hand against her left upper arm, while she waited for Mòrag to regain her composure. If that wasn’t the rarest view in all of Alrest she would have lunged onto the other woman and _made_ her stop.

Mòrag took a deep breath and finally she was able to continue the conversation on. A big smile was still on her face and Nia wanted to punch her for it. “What I meant to say after our dance, was that I’d love it if you taught me some Gormotti folkdance.”, she finally explained. “It was so much fun, it would be a shame to not repeat the occurrence again.”

Nia rose her eyebrows. “Oh.”, she only made. All her anger had dissipated and left her deflated.

Mòrag was about to chuckle again. “And you thought I was going to…”

“No!!”, Nia interrupted her and suddenly she was standing again. “I was _not_ thinking that at all!”

“I apologize, it’s just that your demeanour suggested otherwise.”, Mòrag tried to explain.

“That’s why you laughed?”, Nia frowned. “This isn’t funny, you know! I could’ve been serious!” She stomped with one foot to the ground.

Mòrag stood up and closed the space between them with a step. “That would certainly explain your indignation and why you ‘only wanted to dance with me’.”  

Nia recognized her own words in Mòrag’s and cursed inwardly. Mòrag leaned a bit down, her face all serious now. “I apologize for laughing if that’s the case.”

“I-it’s not…!”, Nia wanted to make a step back, but her leg found the bed behind her. Mòrag came a bit closer, her brown eyes gazing deep into Nia’s. Nia leaned so far back that she fell back into the bed. Mòrag’s response was to stand upright again and chuckle lightly.

For some reason Nia had the feeling that she just lost a battle. “You just signed yourself up for some bloody exhausting dance lessons, lady.”, she hissed.

“Splendid, I love a good exercise.” The threat left Mòrag unfazed and she offered Nia a hand to help her sit up again.

Nia snorted when she heard this; that was such a Mòrag-thing to say. “You’re really fun to be around when you stop all that Special Inquisitor posturing.” She took the hand offered to her and stood up again.

They smiled at each other and only when Brighid re-entered the room they noticed that they were still holding each other’s hand and let quickly go.

Brighid rose an eyebrow. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Not at all!”, Nia answered. She shot a gaze at Mòrag. “I will… see you tomorrow then.”

Mòrag nodded. “Bright and early.” She was aware that they wouldn’t be able to dance until they’d have some spare time again, but it was a promise. “We should buy you a fiddle.”, she suggested. “I’m sure the others would agree after hearing you play today.”

“You really liked that, huh?”

“You play wonderfully, Nia.” Brighid agreed.

“And you looked very happy while doing so.”, Mòrag added.

Nia rose her eyebrows. She hadn’t expected this kind of reasoning from Mòrag. She scratched the back of her head sheepishly. “Guess, I don’t look happy all that often then…” Now that it was said aloud, she had to admit that it had been a very long while since she had felt as carefree and joyful as she had today.

“You could say the same for Lady Mòrag.”, Brighid said. “There was a genuinely joyful air around the two of you today.”

Nia’s lips curved into a humble smile. “Today was great.”, she agreed. Making a decision, she rested her hands on her hips. “I will go accost the guys so that we buy some instruments.”

“More than one?”, Brighid noticed.

“I’ve got an idea.” Nia smirked slyly.

“I hope your idea doesn’t end in caterwauling.”, Mòrag warned her with some amusement.

The Gormotti snorted. “Can’t promise you that.” There was a mischievous glint in her golden eyes and Mòrag let out a little laugh.

There was a moment of silence between them and Nia decided that this was her cue to leave. “Goodnight, Mòrag.” Without thinking about it, she hugged the Ardainian woman goodbye.

Mòrag was puzzled at first, but then she returned the hug tightly. “Goodnight… Nia.” She closed her eyes to enjoy the unfamiliar warmth of someone else’s body against hers.

Nia closed her eyes too and nestled her head on the taller woman’s shoulder – until she became aware of what she was doing and that Brighid was standing right next to them. She broke the hug off and held Mòrag at arm’s length.

“I, uh, sleep tight.”, she said and turned around to leave the room. “Night, Brighid.”

Brighid couldn’t keep the amused expression of her face. “Goodnight, Nia.”, she replied while the blushing Flesh Eater closed the door behind herself.

 

 

 


End file.
